University of California • Berkeley
REGIONAL ORAL HISTORY OFFICE
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
N. Floy Brocelin
THE YNES MEXIA
BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS
An Interview
Conducted by
Annetta Carter
1965, 1967
^;/l^cxAa/nAAu6 mocA-ca/ruU)
Regional Oral History Office University of California
The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California
N. Floy Bracelin
THE YNES MEXIA BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS
An Interview Conducted by
Annetta Carter
1965, 1967
This oral history is open for reseairch. No
peintiission is required to cite or quote. It
is recommended it be cited as follows:
N. Floy Bracelin, "The Ynes Mexia
Botanical Collections," an oral histoiiy
conducted 1965 and 1967 by Annetta Carter.
Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley,
1982.
2
Copy No.
Because articles by and about Mrs. Mexia and her botanical collections
have appeared in diverse publications/ pertinent bibliographic citations are
presented herewith.
Bartram/ E. B. Mosses of western Mexico collected by Mrs. Ynes Mexia.
Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 18:577-582. 1923.
Bracelin, N. F. Itinerary of Ynes Mexia in South America. Madrono 3:174-176.
1935.
. Ynes Mexia. Madrono 4:273-275. 1938.
. Ynes Mexia. Science 88, No. 2295:586. Dec. 1938.
Carter, A. M. The Ynes Mexia collections and N. Floy (Mrs. H. P.) Bracelin.
Madrono 23:163-164. 1975.
Copeland, E. B. Brazilian ferns collected by Ynes Mexia. Univ. Calif. P\abl.
Bot. 17:23-50. 1932.
Mexia, Ynes. Botanical trails in old Mexico — the lure of the unknown.
Madrolio 1:227-238. 1929.
. Three thousand miles up the Amazon. Sierra Club Bulletin 18:88-96,
1933.
. Camping on the Equator. Sierra Club Bulletin 22:85-91. 1937.
Annetta Carter
Research Associate, Herbariiom, Department of Botany
University of California, Berkeley
September, 1982
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview 1. 15 November 1965 at Mrs. Bracelin's home, 2214 Vine St.,
Berkeley.
I. Mrs. Bracelin's early acquaintanceship with Ynes Mexia. 1
II. Mrs. Bracelin's employment in the University of California
Herbariimi and Mrs. Mexia 's early botanical expeditions. 5
III. Mrs. Mexia in South America. 8
IV. Mrs. Mexia 's unpredictable moods. 11
V. Mexia family history. 12
Interview 2. 3 May 1967 at Mrs. Bracelin's home, 2214 Vine St., Berkeley.
VI. Biography of Mrs. Bracelin. 17
INTRODUCTION
In 1929, as an lindergraduate student in need of part-time employment,
I was sent by Professor Richard Holman (Department of Botany, University
of California, Berkeley) to the University Herbarium, then housed in the
Hearst Mining Building, where there was an opening for a student assistant.
Dr. E. B. Copeland was Curator of the Herbarium at that time, but it was
Mrs. N. Floy Bracelin ("Bracie") who interviewed me for the position. In
her warm and friendly manner, she made me feel at ease in the interview euid
soon, for several hours a week, I was preparing botanical specimens for
inclusion in the Herbarium. Later, as a graduate student, I alternated
semesters as teaching assistant, practice teacher and Herbarium assistant.
It was "Bracie" who first broke me in on these other aspects of
Herbariiim procedure and who impressed me with her meticulous attention to
detail and her great capacity for work well done. At that time, she was
processing Mrs. Ynes Mexia's valuable South American plant collections as
well as carrying on routine curatorial work in the University Herbarium.
In the early 1930 's, it was Mrs. Bracelin who, because of her wide corre-
spondence concerning distribution of the Mexia collections and her extremely
outgoing personality, was better known to many curators of herbaria through-
out the world than were some of the curators of our own Herbarium.
In the mid-1930 ' s the Herbarium budget provided funds for only one
non-Academic assistant. With a change in administration, it was decided
that the Herbarium Assistant should be a person with botanical training;
the position was ably filled by Miss Ethel Crum. Thus, Mrs. Bracelin lost
her full-time position. However, she continued to process the Mexia
collections and also developed considerable skill for drafting scientific
charts. She was granted working space in Life Sciences Building until the
early 1940 ' s when the residue of the Mexia collections and her Blake Garden
collections were turned over to the Herbariiam.
It was through Mrs. Bracelin' s processing of Mrs. Mexia's botanical
collections that they were made available to botanists for study and to
enhance our knowledge of the vegetation in the areas where Mrs. Mexia had
collected. Many species previously unknown to science were based upon the
Mexia collections.
My friendship with "Bracie" continued through the years. Eventually,
I became a full-time Herbarium staff member and at the time of my retire-
ment (1958) , I held the title of Principal Herbariiam Botanist. During the
latter half of the 1960 's Mrs. Bracelin decided to turn over to Bancroft
Library all of the Mexia correspondence and documents that she had. About
this time , it occurred to me that it would be valuable to record some of
"Bracie 's" recollections of Mrs. Mexia as well as to obtain some biographical
material about "Bracie" herself. Although she was bed-ridden, she graciously
consented to my taping conversations with her.
I procrastinated in having the tape transcribed, and even longer in
readying it in the form preferred by the Oral History Office. To the Staff
of the University of California Herbarium goes the credit, and ray thauxks,
for the rendition in final form of this interview with Mrs. Bracelin.
Annetta Carter
Interview 1: 15 November 1965.
At Mrs. Bracelin's home, 2214 Vine Street, Berkeley, California.
Carter :
I. MRS. Bracelin's early acquaintanceship v7ith ynes mexia.
Did Mrs. Mexia come to the Herbarium and meet you, or did you
meet her outside the Herbarium?
Bracelin: No, I was a member of Dr. Bryant's school. No, it was more
than a school. He carried his people on and Mrs. Mexia went to
him and I did, too.
Carter: That was when he was in the National Psirk Service?
Bracelin: Well, no, it was part of the University. The University was
giving "Six Trips Afield".
2
Carter: That was what Mrs. Kelly took over later?
Bracelin: [The tape is unclear here. Mrs. Bracelin is trying to say that
Mrs. Kelly attended Dr. Bryant's classes and later, when they
became too large, she assisted him. When Dr. Bryant left to
enter the National Park Service, Mrs. Kelly continued to give
the popular "Six Trips Afield" for University Extension Service.]
Carter: Well, she carried it on for years and years.
Bracelin: Oh, she did, and did a very good job of it! And Mrs. Mexia came
to these "Six Trips Afield", and I went, too, — oh for a number
of times.
Carter: When was that? Back in about 1925? Because I knew you in 1929
and she [Mrs. Mexia] had already been on her first expeditions
by then.
Bracelin: Yes, she had before I saw it [her specimens]; her first one
being '29, no, '25. I wasn't saying it properly. But she was
Harold C. Bryant. Ornithologist. Lecturer and Instructor, University of
California Extension Division, 1916-1930; Asst. Director and Chief, Branch
of Research and Education, National Park Service, 1930-1939; Superintendent.
Grand Canyon Nat'l. Park, 1939 —
'Junea Kelly. For many years she was Instructor for the popular University
California Extension Division course: Six Trips Afield.
doing, partly trying to get some way to get some information.
That's what she was after, getting information. Of course.
Dr. Bryant had a lot of infoinnation to give.
Carter: Had she been on any other field trips when you met her?
Bracelin: Yes, in '26.
Carter: The trip to Mexico, the first trip to Mexico?
Bracelin: In '25. And that one she went to first with Roxy .
4
Carter: And Ferry from Stanford.
Bracelin: It was only Roxy, the two women.
Carter: Then Roxy joined Ferry later.
Bracelin: Yes.
Carter: I read that journal.
Bracelin: Well, Mrs. Mexia and Roxy didn't, naturally, didn't get on the
best way. [Laughter.]
Carter: They're very different personalities.
Bracelin: Oh, extraordinary. Mrs. Mexia wanted to have all the help she
could get so when she went on trips there would be a purpose
behind it. She loved to have a trip and to see things amd do
things, but there had to be a purpose behind it.
Carter: She liked to go as a tourist, but she wanted something more than
that?
Bracelin: Well, she didn't care for people that way. She didn't ceure for
people in the way that you and I do.
Carter: She wanted to be doing something useful that would get some
results from her travel?
Bracelin: She said that she talked to Dr. Bryant, and he advised her and
guided her.
Roxana S. Ferris, Curator, Dudley Herbarium, Stanford University.
Gordon F. Ferris, Professor of Entomology, Stanford University.
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter:
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
He was a wonderful person to do that.
He was a wonderful person, just wonderful. He spoke of Mrs.
Mexia and Miss Morse^. Dr. Bryant said that Miss Morse and
Mrs. Mexia and I were his best students.
I bet you were, too. Had you been working in the Herbarixm
long then?
Not at all.
You hadn't started in the Herbarium then?
Not at all. January 1st, 1928. We'd been out the day before
on a field trip and she came up to me and asked me if I wouldn't
like to come over to the University with her. You know everything
she did always had to be hidden. You sort of call people.
A little mystery to it.
Yes. So I went up. It was the first of the year and we went
upstairs and she had a key.
That was when the Herbarium was still in the Hearst Mining Build-
ing, upstairs.
That was in 1928. Was it in '28? No, '27. And [Sentence not
ended. ]
Because you had been working there for more than a yecir when I
first met you. You knew your way around when I first met you.
Yes. I guess I didn't at first. I didn't know anything cUxjut
it and Mrs. Mexia — it was very funny — she said "Wfell, Bracie,
dear, don't you think you would like to come over here and come
with me and talk with me and maybe you'd like to do this. I
think you'd like to do this."
Without saying what it was?
Finally, she asked me if I'd come the next day. Well, I
thought that was all right and she had a young girl who was
a very close friend and besides that Mrs. Mexia had treated them
almost like they were children, her children, amd so she helped
for the 1925 [collections] .
Miss Elizabeth E. Morse, retired teacher and benefactress of University
of California Herbarium's mycological collection (Mycologia 48:439-442. 1956).
Carter: On the Mexican material?
Bracelin: Yes. And Mrs. Mexia and this girl did that on the 1925 material,
but she hadn't finished them all when I took it up.
Carter: That was laying out for sets [duplicates for distribution] and
all [preparing labels] . Who had determined those 1925 [collections] ?
Bracelin: Miss Eastwood had done a lot of it, a great deal of it. And
Mrs. Mexia, with Miss Eastwood's help, had decided on doing
some of it herself, and I'm not sure how many of them were
correct. So those [collections] started [my work with her] and
I stayed there most every day for part of the time and pretty
soon I was doing it all and finding that she didn't know what
to do. The blind seeing for the blind, you know?
Carter: Well, had she had any courses in botany yet?
Bracelin: Yes. She had had some that she had taken. I think that they
were veiry small courses but not really very fine ones. But
they helped her a little, but she was not the type of person
that could sit down and do a thing of that type, like you could
go in and do those. They have a different meaning to you. But
not Mrs. Mexia. She wanted to get out and see things.
Carter: Do the collecting and let somebody else take care of the
[material] ?
Bracelin: Yes. It was almost at once that I took over.
Carter: With her materials?
Bracelin: Yes.
Alice Eastwood, California Academy of Sciences, San Fremcisco, California.
II. MRS. BRACELIN'S EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
HERBARIUM AND MRS. MEXIA'S EARLY BOTANICAL EXPEDITIONS.
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter:
Bracelin:
Then later Dr. Copeland put you on the Herbarium staff?
Well, I had been doing it for quite a while. Dr. Copeland begged
me to do it [accept position as Herbarium Assistant] , begged me to
take the job, and I said, "well I'm doing this for Mrs. Mexia and
I don't think she wants it disturbed," but he just begged me to take
it for quite a while. So finally I said "Oh all right." I'd go for
half-time and he said no I could do it all and at the [same] time I
could also take care of her work. But I didn't do it that way
because I didn't think that was honest.
But still the specimens were accruing to the University, weren't
they? Or was she selling all of them?
I had to sell as many as I could. She had sold some ahead of time.
She sent some to Michigan.
To Dr. Bartlett?
8
Carter:
Yes.
United States National Museum?
No, I got that up. And of course she sent to Gray Herbarium
[Harvard] . And a little for this and a little for that.
You organized it so it went much more smoothly?
Well, I couldn't see what was happening, what she was doing.
What was she aiming for? So I began changing it.
Getting it into good organization.
And of course she was glad I did it, though of course she never
said that to me. That was what she was glad of — having me take over,
I ' 11 bet she was .
She didn't want to. Oh, once in a while she would come in auid say
"Oh, I'll write that letter," or "I'll do that". But of course they
were her letters, if she wanted to, but oftentimes they weren't
properly done.
But all this time she was plamning her next trip while she was
working on her Mexican material?
8
Edwin B. Copeland, Curator, University of California Herbarium, Berkeley.
Harley H. Bartlett, Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanical Garden,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Bracelin: Well, she just had to go somewhere. The next thing was
[sentence trailed off] .
Carter: Did she go to Alaska after Mexico?
Bracelin: Yes.
Carter: After the first Mexican trip?
Bracelin: Yes. She had [gone on] the last [second] Mexican [1926] ,
the big Mexican [expedition] ; she had done that and done it
better. But then she reached a state where she was just sort
of bogged down, but not telling anybody. About that time she
went to Alaska. She had Frances Payne^ with her for about two
months.
Carter: That was when Frances was just a student, wasn't it?
Bracelin: No. She was working on her Master's and she was teaching
at the time.
Carter: So they went to Alaska together?
Bracelin: Well, for part of the time and then they separated, but friendly.
Carter: Well, did she think tliat Alaska wasn't as much her dish of pie
as Mexico?
Bracelin: No. Having gone and seen, it really didn't interest her very
much. And of course, she didn't [collect] a big lot of numbers,
or anything of that sort. Frances had time and got a lot of
them. And of course they were turned in for her [Mrs. Mexia] ,
because she was paying the bill.
Carter: I should think that she would have had more of a home feeling
for Mexico than for Alaska.
Bracelin: Oh, she did have, definitely, but, she wanted to see Alaska.
So she went around and up to the Mount McKinley area for three
months, I think I'll have to look it up, well, you can't be out
very long times in Alaska, you know.
Carter: Unless you stay through the winter, and that's not collecting
time.
9
Frances Payne, biology teacher at Alameda High School who was working on
her Master's Degree in Botany at University of California, Berkoley.
Bracelin: Not very well. Then she was here, and again it was awful.
In fact, she was funny. I used to laugh at her when [sentence
trailed off] . She would have been shocked if she had known
I was [laughing] because I had different ideas. After all, I
think that you would recognize that I had a different
temperament than she.
Carter: Certainly a different background.
III. Mi^S. MEXIA IN SOUTH AMERICA.
Bracelin: Yes. She came back, and very soon after Alaska she decided
she was going to South America. She talked to Dr. Copeland and
some others. She wrote some letters and it was decided that
she would go to Vicosa.
Carter: Vi90sa in Brazil?
Bracelin: Well, Vic^osa was the place she went to.
Carter: It's a province of Brazil, isn't it?
Bracelin: No, it was a town almost, it was an agricultural college.
She had gotten from Mrs. Chase some answers and she went to
that place because it would be a very good place,
decided that she ought to stay around the season.
Finally, it was
Carter: After she got there that was decided or before she went?
Bracelin: Well it was practically before she went but they made arrangements
and they took her into the whole place. They were lovely to her.
But with her difficult temperament I don't think she could fit
into it at all, and I think there were some difficult times.
Mrs. Chase went there with the idea of going along and working
with her because there would be two people to help.
Carter: The work goes much faster if two work together.
Bracelin: Yes. She thought that, but Mrs. Chase was a very dominamt
person. I never met her but I got information that two people
with that sort of temperament didn't work [together] very long.
Carter: They didn't go along a parallel line very well.
Bracelin: Mrs. Chase went on as would be expected by her amd her way was
very fine.
10
Agnes Chase, Agrostologist, United States National Herbarium, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D. C.
Carter:
Brace lin:
Carter:
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter:
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
11
She went and did a lot of collecting.
In South America. She had worked in Vijosa before. In fact,
she was a friend of the head of the Agricultural College, and
of other people there.
That made a wonderful introduction then.
That helped Mrs. Mexia. And at first they were certainly very
lovely to her but I think later it became rather strained. But
she did stay through a year.
Mrs. Mexia did?
Yes.
And she just worked out from that area? She didn't take any
long trips?
No, not long, but a day or two or something like that.
So that was sort of her introduction to South America before
her big Amazon trip?
Yes. She went from Viyosa up the Amazon.
In that first year she did? Or did she go back again for her
big Amazon trip?
It was after, because she went from Vijosa and then she had to
go back to the main town.
Rio de Janeiro?
Yes. She went back there for a week or two or something like
that and then she went up the Amazon.
That was a long trip, the Amazon trip, wasn't it?
A very long trip. But she didn't stop at a lot of places. I
used to be surprised at that because she could have done soma
things that I would have thought were better but I [sentence
trailed off] .
She wanted to push on and see around the next bend, probably.
Yes. She went to Belem on the first where there's a [sentence
trailed off] .
An agricultural station there?
Yes.
Dr. Foster was there one year.
Adriance Foster, Professor of Botany, University of California, Berkeley.
10
Bracelin: Oh, was he? There was [sentence trailed off] .
Carter: Where the rivers come together?
Bracelin: Yes. There were two of those. There were some interesting
things in that area where she [collected] .
Carter: Where she collected a lot of plants?
Bracelin: Yes. She collected some places. Not as much as you'd expect,
for a person of that sort. She really didn't do as much there.
She went to Belem and stayed there for a while and she went
down to some of the little places around Ford. Ford has a big
[place] , I think its rubber, and cars. She went to see that
or some parts of it at least. And they were very nice to her
and helped her quite a bit. But she didn't do as you or I
would expect. She would say well here's a place where I could
get a thousand specimens right now and no doubt she could have.
Carter: But she didn't do it?
Bracelin: Not that way. She took some, but she didn't stay there as I
would have expected.
Carter: When she went up the Amazon, she just went by herself with native
guides and boatmen, didn't she?
Bracelin: Well, that was when she got up to Iquito^ but she stopped up
the Amazon to [sentence trailed off] .
Carter: As far as the big boats can go?
Bracelin: Yes. There are a lot of very fine things there although a lot
of it was gone when she saw it. It was once a wonderful place.
Carter: An agricultxiral area or? . . .
Bracelin: No. A city. She stayed a while there and along the Amazon
she stopped at four or five places for just hours.
Carter: Instead of days?
Bracelin: I was always surprised. Instead of tcJcing some of the things
that would be so interesting, I would think, she would get
some awfully silly little things.
Carter: Plants or artifacts?
Bracelin: Artifacts. Awful silly ones.
Carter: They just appealed to her, I guess.
11
IV. MRS. MEXIA'S UNPREDICTABLE MOODS.
Bracelin: Yes, they would because after all she was a peon. Mrs. Mexia
really was a peon. Because every now and then she would . . .
well, for example. Beryl Kautz-^^, you knew her . .
Carter: Yes, in Zoology, I knew her.
Bracelin: The poor girl was helping to take care of herself and her sister
on a teacher's [teaching assistant's] salary, $70.00 a month,
was all she was getting. So she was at the point where every
penny counted.
Carter: That was when she was a teaching assistant.
Bracelin: Yes. And Mrs. Mexia would make her come and see us whenever
she was free, and stop out in front of the building [Life Sciences
Bldg.]. One day — oh, I was disgusted, I was thoroughly disgusted!
We had to go outdoors and sit down on the ground and have some
sandwiches.
Carter: Wasn't it a nice day for it?
Bracelin: Yes. It was pretty nice. And we were sitting on that circle
in front of the building, I don't know if its still there, and
Beryl was teasing Mrs. Mexia a little bit, and she said something,
and then Mrs. Mexia showed herself. She reached at her with a
great big knife and jabbed her and ruined the stocking, of course,
and cut her leg. Afterwards, I said "Now listen, this is terrible,
and you've got to buy two new pairs of stockings for that girl.
She cannot afford thisl Look what you've done to her." And it
was bleeding, you know. It wasn't too serious.
Carter: She didn't mean to, did she?
Bracelin: No. She was mad for the moment.
Carter: But she didn't mean to really puncture her, probably.
Bracelin: You see that was the Mexican in her. At times she'd be violent,
maybe for a few seconds and that was the background in her.
When she did that to Beryl, and Beryl was in such a state, oh,
- to have a piece of bread, was something you didn't waste.
Carter: That was in the Depression times, wasn't it, in the '30's?
Bracelin: Yes. And she was trying to earn enough to feed herself amd hmr
sister. Her sister was sick.
12
Beryl Kautz, graduate student in Zoology, University of California,
Berkeley.
12
Carter: Did Mrs. Mexia buy the stockings?
Bracelin: I said "We're going down and buy those for that girl." She
could see that that was the sort of thing I wouldn't stand
for, because that was terrible. So we got the stockings. I
liked Beryl very much. She was odd but she was an awfully
nice girl. And she was advancing herself, she was trying to
get her Master's and I thought it was a terrible thing to do.
I would never have come out to do another thing for her [Mrs.
Mexia] if she hadn't replaced the stockings. And she knew it,
too.
Carter: Did she give them to Beryl Kautz or did you have to give them
to her?
Bracelin: No. I thought she ought to do it because she was the one who
injured Beryl. I thought it was better if she thought she was
doing it. I didn't want Beryl to think I was doing it, because
that wasn't important. That's the sort of thing I would see
a few times. She [Mrs. Mexia] seemed to like me more than most
people.
Carter: Well, you did so much for her and you understood her.
Bracelin: Yes.
Carter: Understood her moods and her whims, and went along with her
whenever possible.
Bracelin: One time. Dr. Goodspeed
13
[Sentence trailed off.]
13
T. Harper Goodspeed, Professor of Botcuiy amd Director of the Botanical
Garden, University of California, Berkeley.
13
V. MEXIA FAMILY HISTORY.
Carter: Was Mrs. Mexia born in Mexico or in the United States?
Brace lin: She was born in Washington, D. C. Her father was ... what was
he called . . . sometimes she would tell you everything and other
times she wouldn't tell something she ought to tell.
Carter: And it wouldn't slip out by accident?
Bracelin: No. Well, once in a while it did sometimes. Her father was
consul or maybe he was more than that in Washington, D. C.
Carter: From Mexico?
Bracelin: And I have a picture showing him and all the others, consuls,
or whatever they were, from the Latin American countries. She
wouldn't tell those things. And I wouldn't try to find out.
Carter: It's nice to know a person's private history, especially if
they're doing things that are going to go down for posterity.
Bracelin: Her mother's family was in the ministry [Baltimore, Mciryland] .
Carter: You mean religious not political?
Bracelin: Yes. And, oh what a coiintry it was! But he [Mrs. Mexia' s father]
had something like eleven leagues in Texas that were given to
him in the Mexican way and she told me that they had these
eleven leagues and they lived in Texas for a number of yeaurs.
Carter: When he wasn't in Washington?
Bracelin: He was there and various children were there.
Carter: Was she the oldest child?
Bracelin: There was one sister who she, in a letter that I have, said that
she and Mrs. Mexia were the only legitimate children. There were
ten or eleven or twelve of them [illegitimate] .
Carter: Well, that happens all over the world.
Bracelin: But this was quite common, and the sister was, evidently, a very
lovely lady in a nice way.
Carter: She isn't the one who lived in San Francisco later? Wasn't there
a relative living in San Francisco?
Bracelin: Not that I ever knew of. She was living in Philadelphia. She
lived there nearby until she died.
14
Carter: Then Mrs. Mexia didn't actually grow up in Mexico. She grew
up in Texas or did they go to Mexico some, too?
Bracelin: Oh yes, Mexico and back. She went to Catholic schools in
Washington, D. C. and some other ones. Then they'd go back
to Mexico.
Carter: Mexico City, or some other part of Mexico?
Bracelin: Yes. He had a lovely big home there and they had a hacienda
just beyond Mexico City. They had some lovely property there,
and I judge lots of servants.
Carter: This was before the Revolution, before 1910 probeibly?
Bracelin: Yes, I suppose so.
Carter: Because he must have lost a lot at that time, if he had so
much.
Bracelin: Well, oh they had lawsuits and everything. It was a terrible
mess, evidently. But he left his places in Texas to Mrs. Mexia
pretty much as far as I was able to see. Of course, I never
went into the details. She had some of these half-brothers
and sisters. One brother, evidently, was fighting the whole
thing very much because his father was dead and the mother was
dead several years before. They wanted certain properties
and things like that.
Carter: But they didn't die until Mrs. Mexia was an adult?
Bracelin: No. Her parents died before the 1920 's, I'd say.
Carter: So before you knew her they had already passed away?
Bracelin: Oh yes. They were gone and she owned the property down in
Mexico. She sold it, she told me for $25.00 am acre and they
found oil on it afterwards. But she'd sold it so there was
nothing she could do a±)Out it. The property was Mexican. In
one of the places it became American [Rio GreUide area?] . In
Texas it was Mrs. Mexia' s property then. I don't know just
how far down in Texas they went. As I was reading some of
the letters I understand that her grandfather and grandmother
and a sister were friends of the En\peror.
Carter: Maximilian?
Bracelin: Yes. Some of the things I read were written by the Mexias.
That was the grandparents and the aunt.
15
Carter: Those must have been interesting.
Bracelin: Well, I put them all in Bancroft [Library] because I didn't
think they should be lost. There was nothing to stop me from
throwing them all away but I didn't think it should have been.
I think the grandparents and their sister were friends of the
Emperor and his beautiful lady. From things I read it sounded
as though they were entertaining. Her grandfather knew Scinta
Ana and they were friends and then they were on different sides
later on. She used to tell about this. They were at war, Santa
Ana and his people and General Mexia.
Carter: He was a general?
Bracelin: Oh yes. Both his father and grandfather. Her grandfather
was there fighting at the time and they ran into each other
and Mexia said "Well if the cases were turned what would you
do?" Santa Ana said "I'll give you five minutes to live."
Mexia was killed right there. I'm not sure if Scinta Ana was
killed too, but I think they both were.
Carter: Mrs. Mexia 's grandfather?
Bracelin: Yes. I think that was in northern Mexico. It really was exciting
in lots of ways. I've always wanted to write it up.
Carter: So every once in a while she'd drop bits of fconily history that
you could fit in piece by piece?
Bracelin: No. All of it was put into my hands after her death.
Carter: You mean all the letters?
Bracelin: Everything that she had. I had a lot of them at the University
for a long time but I didn't tell people because some people
would have thought that that would be interesting to just go
into and I didn't think it would be. I gave the important ones
to the University and on some of them I made notes.
Carter: You've already given those to the Bamcroft?
Bracelin: Yes. Because I thought that should be. I told Mrs. — I've
forgotten her name , but she ' s no longer there anyway — that
I didn't want it just passed around anywhere because there are
still some Mexias around. I don't know who they are. There
was someone while Mrs. Mexia was alive that was down the
peninsula a ways. A cousin or a half -cousin or a half-brother —
one of them. It was a lady. Mrs. Mexia saw her evidently once
in a great while. They seemed to be friendly but not close.
A man wanted to write up Mexia things and cane to me or rather
wrote to me. I gave him some help.
16
Carter: Was he writing up the family or just Ynes Mexia as a botanist?
Brace lin: The family. He never sent me the manuscript and I thought he
ought to. I still have his letter. Maybe I could chase it up.
I suppose he did some things that could bring some things
out that I didn't know anything about. Very possibly. There
were some people down either in Mexico or in some other southern
part of the country. There were these people — they were nice
people, white people [sentence trailed off].
Carter: Well, color doesn't make any difference.
Bracelin: No. Going back they probably didn't like some things, at vsurioxis
levels. I don't know how much each person knew about things.
There are papers over at Bancroft that show quite a number of
those things. I gave them in. I did keep copies of things she had
had, that belonged to her father or her grandfather or somebody
like that. I kept notes of them.
Carter: The originals are in Bancroft? That's wonderful.
Bracelin: Oh yes. They're there. I was sure that was where they ought
to be, and I told Bancroft that I didn't want some of these things
just handed around because supposing the relatives heard some of
these things, they'd be horrified, you know. Apparently they're
very nice people and they wouldn't like to have all of that known.
So I said that I didn't want them just handed out.
Carter: Well, I'm sure they don't do that.
Bracelin: People come in for historical studies and some of them could go
in and write that all up. I didn't want that done and I'm not
sure what finally happened to them. The lady that was in there
for years — she's been gone for two years now, I think — she's
retired, a very lovely person. If I wanted to get emy of those
things out, I could, but I wanted to have them safe. Then the
idea of my having to do all these things by myself amd then I
go and get a bur.p on my head. I could show you a book that I
wrote copies in, but we wouldn't start this [the tape recorder)
going that way and then just walk off and leave it. '
17
Interview continued on May 3, 1967 at Mrs. Bracelin's house,
VI. BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. BRACELIN.
Br ace 1 in;
Carter :
Brace lin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin;
My interest in botany was greatly enhanced . . . the work with
those plants was an inspiration, and I know it was for you,
Annetta, because I loved every minute of it. I worked morning,
afternoon, and evening [sentence trailed off] .
You worked hours longer than anybody else.
On weekends, and it was siitply wonderful for me. And, of course
I reached out and took the Blake Garden which Mrs. Mexia didn't
like one little bit because it wasn't hers. From there I reached
for other things. I loved every minute of it.
You did a tremendous job in the Herbarium
things that you did, too.
15
And all these extra
Yes. I guess I would be right now, too, if I could.
When did you become interested in botany?
Well, I wanted to take botany courses in high school. But my
mother decided that she would decide what I was going to do. She
decided I was to study anatomy and medicine and I was to be a doctor.
And I could be later, but she introduced me by taking me to see the
autopsy of a man that I had helped to take care of. His body was
found after he was killed. It was found three weeks later. My
mother said I had to go to that night autopsy. And I had to go.
When my mother said something, I had to do it. But I certainly
didn't want to go on with medicine, and yet I could have later,
very easily. I have a good interest in it, and I have a little bit
of knowledge about it.
Well, you have a good scientific mind. Where were you bom?
In Star Lake, Minnesota.
That ' s a nice name .
Isn't it beautiful? It was shaped like a star. My mother's
father had the first, or the biggest, or the oldest or something
like that, saw mill up in Minnesota. Of course, at that time it was
just woods, everywhere. Not that I ceui remember it, but I know that
was it.
14
15
Blake Garden, the home of Mr. & Mrs. Anson Blake, Kensington. Now University
of California property. Mrs. Bracelin made a large collection of the exotic
cultivated plants here. Duplicate herbarium specimens were distributed to
other herbaria.
Herbarium — University of California Herbarium — at that time housed in the
Hearst Mining Building but transferred to Life Sciences Building in 1930.
18
Carter: What was your name, your maiden name?
Bracelin: It was N. Floy "Burfield." My mother took her name back after
she was married because she wanted to keep her father's name,
and that was Burfield. But I was born under "Parry".
Carter: Well, lots of people in Mexico use the combination of names
so you can tell what the history of the family is. That's a
common practice in Mexico.
Bracelin: My mother told me I was to keep the "Burfield". So, of course
I did.
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Until after you were married?
Yes. And then, of course, I stopped it. I was told that the day
I was born, my grandfather took a ruler and pulled the hair out
and measured it. He said it was more than an inch long. That's
what I was told, but I don't remember that, for some reason. I
didn ' t do all the things I wanted so much to do because my mother
decided what I was to do. Like she decided I was to be a doctor,
period. There was no ifs, or ands, or buts.
How did you get out of that?
That autopsy was enough. I can still smell it. I was only
sixteen. I can't imagine a mother doing a thing like that for
a teenager. I just can't imagine it. But, of course, I was brought
up to be a nice little girl.
Did you have any brothers or sisters?
I had a brother that was two and a half yeaxs older than me. And
that was all. We didn't have any interests in common.
Lots of brothers and sisters don't.
No. Not at all. And my mother's interests were so foreign to me
that that wasn't helpful either. And perhaps I was the one that
was wrong. You never can tell.
Lots of children don't see eye-to-eye with their parents, or the
parents eye-to-eye with the children.
I really think I could have done a number of things. I've shown
that I can, because the drawing I did for years and^years. Really and
truly this is a joke, a downright joke,
one day and [sentence trailed off] .
Dr. Evans^^ came in to ne
16
Herbert McLean Evans, Professor, Department of Anatomy and Director, Institute
of Experimental Biology, University of California, Berkeley.
19
Carter :
Br ace 1 in:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin:
Carter :
Bracelin;
Carter :
Bracelin;
Herbert McLean Evans?
Yes. And brought me a beautifully drawn graph. He said, "I wish
you'd copy that." I said "I've never done anything like that in
my life." He said "Well, I wish you'd copy it." "All right, I'll
copy it." And I didn't have anything to do it with; I had a ruler
and a pen, ordinary pen. And I worked and worked at it. And he
gave good criticism. And he looked at it. And he said "All right,
after this, you're going to draw all of our graphs."
This was after you'd left the Herbarium?
I was working on the Mexia collection and the Blake collection.
When you had that room downstairs in the corner? [Life Sciences
Bldg.]
Downstairs. He told me hereafter you're going to do it.
"Oh dear, well, I guess I'll have to learn how."
I said
So you did and have been doing beautiful graphs ever since.
Except now. I have to give him credit for that because he did
it. And he gave me good criticism. As a matter of fact, I
thought one day a while ago I've never taken a job except when I
was asked, "Would I do it?" I didn't realize it until recently.
Someone would say "Will you do this?" And I'd say "Sure." Like
the Laboratory-'-^ wanted me to do bacteriology about which I knew
almost nothing.
Down at Western Research Laboratory?
Yes. I said "Sure, I'll work at it, and if I don't know 1*11 ask.'
Of course, lots of the things I couldn't do because it needed a
lot of training. But they would let me do lots of things they
wouldn't let one of the men who boasted of his doctor's degree and
his experience all over the Orient and so forth.
Well, they knew you were a good responsible person, reliable.
This fellow, one day we were working on botulism auid you don't
monkey with that. We innoculated 30 or 50 cans of beams or peas
or something like that. I didn't do the innoculating. No, I
didn't do that at all. The fellow who was the head of it did the
innoculating — he wasn't taking any chances. And he was right.
Then we had to leave them out in a cold room at night. The next
morning we were to move them into minus ten. This fellow called
me and said "Bracie, will you go down and see if Bagley has done
that? I can't trust him to put everything back the way it should
17
Lciboratory.
California.
Western Regional Research Laboratory, U.S.D.A., Albany,
20
be." So I went down and I said "Is this where you had all these
cans?" "Yes." I said "Oh, that's where they are." I went back
upstairs. The lid blew up, and the director and the head of the
department — Whew — because that might have killed thousands of
people.
Carter ;
Had he put them in the wrong place?
Bracelin: Left them over where it would be just cool and they were supposed
to be in -10. So they said to me "Would you please change things?"
Because they'd see if it could be used. They didn't let him do it.
After all, if you're going to work with anything like that, you
have to be reliable.
i:adrono 23 (3):l63-l6U. 1975-
1975] NOTES AND NEWS 163
The Yxes Mexia Collections and N. Floy (Mrs. H. P.) Bracelec. — Except for
the dedicated and meticulous assistance of Mrs. Bracelin, the extensive Mexican and
South American collections made by Ynes Mexia might never have been distributed.
Once her beautifully prepared and carefully documented specimens reached home
base, Mrs. Mexia had little interest in them other than the excitement and satisfac-
tion of ha\"ing obtained species new to science. Mrs. Bracelin said, "She [Mrs.
Mexia] loved to have a trip and to see thinp and do things, but there had to be a
purpose behind it." Mrs. Mexia and Mrs. Bracelin became friends in 1927 when
they were both enrolled in Dr. Harold Bryant's "Six Trips .\field", a University
of California Extension course. At that time Mrs. Mexia had made two collecting
trips to Me.-dco and from the second one in 1926 [cf. Madrofio 1:227-238. 19291
164 MADROi^G tVoL23
she had brought back extensive collection* that were still not completely processed.
In January, 192S, "Bracie", as she was known to friends, took over the processing
of the Mexican and subsequent South American collections — preparing labels, send-
ing sets to specialists for naming, arranging sales, and, finaJly. distributing the dupli-
cates. In this connection, Mrs. Bracelin built up a wide correspondence and acquain-
tanceship with botanists throughout the world. Before her death, Mrs. Bracelin
deposited all of the records of the Mexia collections, much of the Mexia correspon-
dence, and information about the Mexia family in the Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley. The first set of the Mexia collections is deposited in
UC. Mrs. Bracelin published the following articles treating Ynes Mexia. and her
collections:
Bracelin, Mrs. H. P. Itinerary of Ynes Me.xia in South America. MadroAo 3:174-
173. 1935.
. Ynes Mexia. Madrono 4:273-275. 1938.
Inasmuch as Mrs. Mexia had arranged to bring her Mexican collections to the
University of California Herbarium at Berkeley, Mrs. Bracelin worked on them
there. In May, 1929, Dr. E. B. Copeland. who was at that time Curator of the
Herbarium, employed Mrs. Bracelin as an Herbarium assistant. In the early 1930's
Bracie helped Dr. Carleton R. Ball in working up his willow collections for the revi-
sion of the genus Salix in the western United States. Later, she set herself the task
of making a collection of the exotic plants growing in the Anson and Anita Blake
estate (now the property of the University of California, Berkeley). With dupli-
cates, her 1392 garden collections amounted to about 20,000 sheets, all of which
were distributed to herbaria expressing an interest in culti\-ated plants. After Iea\ing
the University of California Herbarium, she perfected her skills as a scientific iHus-
trator (specializing in the field of graphs and charts). From January, 1940. to July,
1943, Mrs. Bracelin was an assistant in the Botany Department of the California
Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, and after that, until her retirement in I960, she
was on the staff of the Western Regional Research Laboratory. U3.DA., Albany,
California.
Mrs. Bracelin (n^e Xina Floy Perry) was bom 24 March 1890 at Star Lake.
Minnesota. She died in Berkeley, California, on 8 July 1973. She is remembered as
a cheerful, friendly person, ever helpful to others, with a great capacity for work
that was well done. Four plants were named in her honor: Cordia Bnctliniat I. M.
Johnston, Fuchsia Braceliniae Munz, Salix lasioltpis var. Braceliniat Ball, KocAjrjJa
Braceliniae Standley.— Akxitta M. Camtlh, Department of Botany. Univenity of
California, Berkeley 94720.
Reprinted from Madrono, October, 1938, Vol. IV, No. 8, pages 273-275.
YNES MEXIA
Ynes Mexia, the daughter of General Enrique A. and Sarah
R. (Wilmer) Mexia, was bom May 24, 1870, in Georgetown,
Washington, D. C. Her father, the son of Jose Antonio Mexia (a
Mexican general under President Santa Anna) was at that time
resident in Washington as a representative of the Mexican gov-
ernment. Her mother, Sarah R. Wilmer of Maryland, was of the
family of Samuel Eccleston, Fifth Archbishop of Baltimore. A
large part of her childhood was spent in Texas where the family
owned an eleven league grant upon which the town of Mexia,
Limestone County, is now located. . Her early education was ob-
tained mainly in private schools in Philadelphia and Ontario,
Canada. Later, she attended St. Joseph's College, Emmetsburg,
Maryland, and the University of California, Berkeley. She was
married in Mexico to Agustin A. de Reygadas but later resumed
the use of her maiden name. For considerable periods during
the earlier part of her life she lived in Mexico but for the past
thirty years has been a resident of San Francisco.
274
MADROSO
(VoL4
Mrs. Mexia's interest in botanical collecting began in 1922
when she joined an expedition led by Mr. E. L. Furlong, then
Curator of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley; on
this occasion, however, she
made only a few permanent col-
lections. Her first important
collecting was done on a second
expedition to Mexico in 1925 in
company with Mrs. Roxana S.
Ferris, of Dudley Herbarium,
Stanford University. During
the thirteen years following she
made three additional expedi-
tions to Mexico, one to Alaska,
and two to South America, col-
lecting a total of about 8800
numbers, approximating 145,-
000 specimens. She was col-
lecting in the mountains of the
State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in
1938 when she became ill and
was obliged to return home.
Her health did not improve and
death followed on July 12, 1938.
_, , „ ,, . Mrs. Mexia's collections were
Fisr. 1. Ynes Mexia. , , ,, . .
always carefully prepared and
her field notes unusually detailed. Many of the regions she
visited had been but little explored botanically and although
studies upon her collections are not yet completed they have
yielded a large number of species new to science. At present
there have been described two new genera, Mexianthus mezicanus
Robinson (Compositae) and Spumula quadrifida Mains (Pucci-
niaceae) and about 500 new species (mostly spermatophytes) of
which more than 50 have been named in her honor. A brief
resume of her collecting expeditions with approximate number!!
of specimens obtained is given at the end of this article.
Published accounts of Mrs. Mexia's expeditions and special
reports upon her collections have appeared as follows : Ynes
Mexia, Botanical Trails in Old Mexico — the Lure of the Un-
known (Madrono 1 : 227-238. 1929) ; Three Thousand Miles up
the Amazon (Sierra Club Bulletin, 1988) ; Camping near the
Equator (Sierra Club Bulletin, 1987) ; Edwin B. Bartram, Mosses
of Western Mexico Collected by Mrs. Ynes Mexia (Jour. Wash.
Acad. Sci. 18: 577-582. 1928) ; E. B. Copeland, Braxilian Ferns
Collected by Ynes Mexia (Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 17: 23-50, pis.
1-8. 1982); Mrs. H. P. Bracelin, Itinerary of Ynes Mexia in
South America (Maoroi^o 8: 17-^176. 1986).
1938] BRACELIN: YNES MEXIA 27B
In the San Francisco Bay region Mrs. Mexia was well known
as a lecturer, having appeared before many scientific organiza-
tions. Her accounts of botanical explorations were vivid and
entertaining, and because of her skill in photography, were un-
usually well illustrated with views of the general topography and
plant associations of the regions visited.
Mrs. Mexia has been a member of the California Botanical
Society since 1915. She was a member also of the Sierra Club,
the Audubon Association of the Pacific, the Sociedad Geographica
de Lima, Peru, a life member of the California Academy of Sci-
ences, and an honorary member of Departamento Forestal y de
Caza y Pesco of Mexico. — Mrs. H. P. Bracelin, Berkeley, Cali-
fornia.
BoTAXiCAi, ExPEomoxs OF YiTES Mexia
Mexico
Western Mexico: September 16 to November 19, 1925; Sinaloa; expedition
with Roxana S. Ferris, Dudley Herbarium, Stanford University; 500 numbers,
3600 specimens.
Western Mexico: September, 1926 to April, 1927; states of Sinaloa, Nayarlt,
Jalisco to 6000 feet elevation in Sierra Madre; 1600 numbers, 33,000 specimens.
Northern and central Mexico: May to July inclusive, 1929; Chihuahua,
Mexico, Puebla, Hidalgo; expedition led by Mr. E. L. Furlong, Department of
Paleontology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; 315 numbers, 5000
specimens.
Southwestern Mexico: October 31, 1937 to May 20, 1938; states of Oaxacs
and Guerrero; 700 numbers, 13,000 specimens.
At.abbta
Mt. McKinley National Park: June to September, 1938; first general collec-
tion of the Park flora; 365 numbers, 6100 specimens.
South Ameuca
Brazil and Peru: November, 1929 to March, 1932, inclusive; Braxil, Rio de
Janeiro, Vigosa and Dlamantina, state of Minas Geraes; Amazon and other
river courses in states of Pard and Amazonas ; Transandean Peru, upper Amazon
and Santiago river valleys, Departamento de Loreto; accompanied for a short
time by Agnes M. Chase, Division of Agrostology, United States Department of
Agriculture; 3200 numbers, 65,000 specimens.
Ecuador: September, 1934 to September, 1935; coastal plains and eastern
Amazonian slope of Andes, northern highlands and Columbian border; expedi-
tion for the Bureau of Plant Introduction and Exploration, United States De-
partment of Agriculture to search for palms, cinchonas and soil-binding plants
and to make a general collection; 900 numbers, 5000 specimens.
Peru, Bolivia, north central Argentina and Chile: October, 1935 to Januarj,
1936, Inclusive; Andean highlands; expedition of the University of California
Botanical Garden led by Dr. T. H. Goodspeed; 300 numbers, 1900 specimens.
Peru, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador: January, 1936 to Januar>-, 1937, Inclu-
sive; southern Chile, Straits of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego; Peru, Cusco,
Machu Pichu, Cerro del Pasco; Ecuador, Esmeraldas; 1000 numbers, 13,000
specimens.
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